Energy Facility Siting Research Articles

A university-based clinical approach to renewable energy facility siting in the United States

A university-based clinical approach to renewable energy facility siting in the United States

Balancing benefits and risks: Assessing willingness to accept compensation for clean energy facility siting in China-An examination of knowledge, attitudes, and practices.

Provisions for compensation have been widely used to handle siting difficulties in many countries. However, neglecting the factors that influence the residents' willingness to accept compensation (WTA) for the siting of clean energy facilities for the long term has led to the failure of compensation, which could potentially cause stalemates or even conflicts in projects. Given the representativeness of nuclear power plants (NPPs) in the siting of clean energy facilities, this study chose the siting of NPPs as a case study. Moreover, an extended knowledge-attitudes-practices (KAP) model was constructed to explore the key factors that affect the residents' WTA since this model excels at understanding individual behaviors. The results show that the WTA is extremely low. Knowledge has positive effects on attitudes, which is also the most significant predictive factor of the WTA. More knowledge leads to lower pollution perceptions but results in higher safety perceptions and pro-environmental values. Perceptions of safety and pollution mediate the relationship between knowledge and the WTA, but the mediating effects of pro-environmental values are not significant. The negative effects of pollution perceptions are greater than the positive effects of safety perceptions of WTA. These results may serve as a basis to improve public evaluation to handle crises in other countries and regions.

A Place under the Sun: Planning, Landscape and Participation in a Case of a Solar Powerplant in the Israeli Desert

Studies demonstrate the lack of common interpretations and rigorous methods for landscape assessments (LA) during design and siting of renewable energy (RES) facilities. Research shows how perceived landscape impacts influence public willingness to accept changes in the landscape. The connection between the effectiveness of LA procedures vis-à-vis the inclusion of the public in decision-making related to RES siting has received less attention. We, therefore, examine the role of LAs in planning via the eyes of policymakers and experts, and evaluate the capacity of current tools to influence the process. Additionally, we analyze the role (or lack thereof) of the public in LAs. Our unique case—one of the largest in the world thermo-solar “tower” plant, located near a small desert village—exemplifies the place for landscape consideration in national-level mega-infrastructure. Based on documents analysis and semi-structured interviews, the findings demonstrate the struggle between competing goals such as financial and temporal efficiency, RES targets, landscape protection, and public participation. We conclude that first, despite independent efforts to promote the latter two, there may be little connection between the assessment of landscape effects and public participation because there is no mechanism for post-evaluation of a project’s impacts, and any debates on the actual effects remain theoretical. Second, that landscape impacts of large-scape infrastructure can mainly be avoided in the stage of site location, and at this stage, the room for public input remains limited.

Integrating social considerations in multicriteria decision analysis for utility-scale solar photovoltaic siting

Solar photovoltaic facilities are cropping up with ever-increasing size and frequency. Often, these utility-scale projects incite opposition from local communities – once branded a “Not in my backyard” reaction. Here we conduct a cross-disciplinary review covering two interrelated topics: 1) solar siting analyses utilizing a geographical information system – multicriteria decision analysis (GIS-MCDA) approach and 2) social science research discussing public responses to solar photovoltaic development. We follow this with a discussion on how to improve GIS-MCDA by more explicitly including aspects of the people and the place under study. Past research leans primarily upon technical and economic criteria directly related to the solar facility itself, largely ignoring social considerations, which are important for public acceptability and fairness. Incorporating siting criteria reflecting the interests of local people and how they interact with their immediate environment would not only improve the process for developers, but it could also be adapted to mitigate inequalities pervasive in the historical siting of energy facilities.

Zoning for Climate Change

No one seriously questions that an improved and decarbonized energy supply system is a key component of climate change mitigation, but the United States’ system of federalism complicates the siting of utility-scale renewable energy facilities. The new Biden Administration presents the United States with an opportunity to reimagine how this country regulates renewable energy siting, allowing for substantial national progress in reducing greenhouse gas emissions. Currently, primary siting authority for renewable energy projects rests with state and local governments, which generally exercise that authority through zoning and land use planning, while the federal government approves most interstate energy delivery systems. This fragmented system of governance can delay and even deter project development, simultaneously thwarting the optimal logic in developing a national renewable energy generation system. Proactive renewable energy project planning offers one potentially effective – and constitutional – solution to this renewable energy federalism dilemma, particularly in conjunction with negotiated siting guidelines and a centralized siting agency. Drawing upon the substantial body of scholarly work that advocates for federal or regional collaboration in renewable energy policymaking and for more balanced and dynamic federalism in the energy sector, this Article further advances those goals while also shifting the focal axis and underscoring renewable energy as the locus for expanding energy federalism and mitigating climate change.

Feeding home ranges of Pacific Coast Feeding Group gray whales

ABSTRACTThere is a lack of detailed information about the range and habitat use of gray whales (Eschrichtius robustus) during their seasonal occupation off the Pacific Northwest (PNW) coast from northern California to southeast Alaska, USA. These data are important for management because of anthropogenic pressures (e.g., indigenous harvesting, fishing gear entanglements, ship strikes, naval exercises, siting of marine renewable energy facilities). We applied satellite tags to 35 gray whales in the eastern north Pacific (ENP) off the coasts of Oregon and northern California from September to December 2009, 2012, and 2013. These whales are members of the Pacific Coast Feeding Group (PCFG), a subset of gray whales in the ENP that feed off the PNW, during summer and fall. Tracking periods for the satellite‐tagged whales in this study ranged from 3 days to 383 days. We applied a Bayesian switching state‐space model (SSSM) to locations for each whale track to provide a regularized track with 2 estimated locations per day and associated movement behavior (either transiting or area‐restricted searching [ARS]). We isolated the portion of the SSSM track in the feeding area for each whale by removing all southward and northward migration locations. We calculated home ranges (90% isopleths) and core areas (50% isopleths) for these non‐migrating, feeding‐area tracks with >50 SSSM locations using local convex hull utilization distributions. Feeding‐area home ranges for the resulting 23 whales covered most of the near‐shore waters from northern California to Icy Bay, Alaska, and ranged in size from 81 km2to 13,634 km2. Core areas varied widely in size (11–3,976 km2) and location between individuals, with the highest‐use areas off Point St. George in northern California, the central coast of Oregon, and the southern coast of Washington, USA. Nearshore waters off Point St. George were a hot spot for whales in the PCFG in late fall, close to where most of the whales were tagged; 19 whales had overlapping home ranges and 15 whales had overlapping core areas there. One whale, a male tracked for 383 days, did not migrate, spending the entire winter off Point St. George and the California‐Oregon border. Residence times (portions of the track with a minimum of 3 successive locations in ARS behavioral mode) ranged from 1 day to 142.5 days; 19 whales had residencies >30 days in some areas. Because most of the whales in this study were tagged in the fall in the southern portion of the feeding area, off northern California, results are weighted toward fall and winter movements. Although some whales were tracked into the spring and summer, additional tagging earlier in the year and in more northerly locations would provide an even clearer picture of gray whale use of feeding areas in the PNW. Nevertheless, these results constitute valuable information about high‐use areas for gray whales in this region, providing baseline home range data for future comparisons with regard to year‐to‐year variability, potential responses to climate change, and exposure to anthropogenic activities in the marine environment. © 2019 The Authors.Journal of Wildlife ManagementPublished by Wiley Periodicals, Inc. on behalf of The Wildlife Society.

巻頭言：特集『再生可能エネルギーの施設立地がもたらす景観紛争－北杜市の持続的発展に向けた対話の試み』の刊行に寄せて

巻頭言：特集『再生可能エネルギーの施設立地がもたらす景観紛争－北杜市の持続的発展に向けた対話の試み』の刊行に寄せて

Landscape-scale wildlife species richness metrics to inform wind and solar energy facility siting: An Arizona case study

The juxtaposition of wildlife and wind or solar energy facility infrastructure can present problems for developers, planners, policy makers, and management agencies. Guidance on siting of these renewable energy facilities may help identify potential wildlife-facility conflicts with species of regulatory or economic concern. However, existing spatial guidance usually does not consider all wildlife that might use a potential facility location or corridors for its servicing infrastructure. We illustrate an approach toward assessing potential wildlife-facility conflicts using readily available vertebrate habitat models. The U.S. Geological Survey's Gap Analysis Program (GAP) has developed spatial models of potential habitat for vertebrate species across the entire nation. To illustrate their applicability, we used GAP models to estimate richness of all native, terrestrial vertebrates within Arizona and for those vertebrates grouped by class or by sensitivity to the type of facility infrastructure. We examined the spatial overlap of high species richness of each group with agency-developed guidance used to inform facility-siting decisions and found that GAP-based richness mappings augmented existing guidance. As the GAP vertebrate habitat models are publicly available for the entire USA, use of these data can provide a coarse view of potential wildlife-facility conflicts and inform facility planning early in the process.

Wind Energy Facility Siting: Learning from Experience and Guides for Moving Forward

Renewable energy technologies, like wind turbines, solar arrays, and biomass (and biogas) plants, and carbon reduction technologies, such as carbon storage and sequestration (CSS), will be a critical part of future energy supplies as the United States and other countries seek ways to reduce carbon emissions. Renewable energy technologies can be perceived as hazardous and undesirable, much to the surprise of some. Siting failures can be high and unexpected. Broad, general support for renewable energy can give way to more polarization about specific proposals. While a growing literature exists about the formation of public support and opposition to wind and other renewable energy technologies, lessons relevant to the wind industry can be found from past experiences relating to hazardous technologies, including chemical processing plants, nuclear waste facilities, nuclear power plants, incinerators, and hazardous and municipal landfills, and locally unwanted land uses, such as airports, transmission lines, schools, and housing developments. There has been little direct application of this broad source of knowledge to wind or other renewable energy siting literature. We review this literature to identify factors that contribute to public support and opposition. Substantial increases in the contribution of wind energy to the US energy mix will require leadership at both the federal and state levels. We end by proposing several strategies for improving future wind energy siting efforts.

Habitat use and selection of black scoters in southern New England and siting of offshore wind energy facilities

ABSTRACTThe southern New England continental shelf is an important region for black scoters (Melanitta americana) during winter and migratory staging periods and a priority area for developing offshore wind energy facilities. However, little is known about the migration phenology and habitat use of black scoters in this portion of their range and this information is necessary to assess potential risks to black scoters during the marine spatial planning process. In this regional black scoter study over 2 winters, we used satellite telemetry and spatial modeling techniques to estimate migratory timing and length of stay, quantify winter home range size and site fidelity between winters, examine key habitat characteristics associated with core‐use areas, and map relative probabilities of use across a 3,800‐km2 marine spatial planning area for 2 proposed offshore renewable energy facilities. Black scoters spent nearly 5 months in southern New England, with wide variation among individuals in the size of winter utilization distributions (range 16–12,367 km2). Approximately 50% of the tagged birds returned to southern New England during the subsequent winter and had variable fidelity to core‐use areas occupied the previous winter. During both winters, black scoter core‐use areas were located closer to shore, at shallower water depths, with coarser sediment grain size and higher probability of hard‐bottom occurrence relative to available areas. Resource selection functions classified the majority of a nearshore 5‐turbine, 34‐km2 renewable energy zone off Block Island as high probability of use by black scoters, whereas an offshore 200‐turbine, 667‐km2 federal lease block zone was classified as low to medium‐low probability of selection. Wind energy facilities, such as the Block Island site, constructed in relatively shallow (<20 m deep), nearshore habitats (<5 km) over hard‐bottomed or coarse‐sand substrate could displace some foraging black scoters wintering in this region, whereas the larger federal lease block zone located farther offshore is more likely to affect scoters dispersing among core‐use areas and during migration between wintering and breeding grounds. © 2014 The Wildlife Society.

Putting Social Movements in their Place. Explaining Opposition to Energy Projects in the United States, 2000‐2005McAdam, Doug and SchafferBoudetHilary Cambridge: Cambridge University Press (2012), 266 p., ISBN 978‐1‐107‐65031‐2

Putting Social Movements in their Place. Explaining Opposition to Energy Projects in the United States, 2000‐2005McAdam, Doug and SchafferBoudetHilary Cambridge: Cambridge University Press (2012), 266 p., ISBN 978‐1‐107‐65031‐2

Wind Energy Facility Siting in Oregon

In this paper, I discuss Oregon’s energy facility siting process. In Section II, I explain Oregon’s facility siting process, focusing on the opportunity for public participation at the state and local levels, in Subsections A and B, respectively. In Section III, I describe the various stakeholders in the energy facility siting process, including the following: in Subsection A, developers and industry; in Subsection B, residents and the local community; in Subsection C, local, state, and federal government. As I go through each stakeholder, I will examine the benefits and burdens incurred by each group during the wind energy facility siting process. In Section IV, I attempt to develop a sustainable public participation model that will ensure all stakeholders have a voice throughout the facility siting process. The current facility siting process may be inadequate if we truly desire a comprehensive review. Our public participation model must presume sustainability as a necessary component of the siting process, where sustainability means creating intergenerational equity by extending the benefits and burdens analysis to at least one future generation.

Energy source perceptions and policy support: Image associations, emotional evaluations, and cognitive beliefs

This paper represents the most in-depth effort conducted to date to assess affective, emotional and cognitive perceptions of coal, natural gas, nuclear, and wind energy and the relationship between these perceptions and support for the energy sources. U.S. residents, recruited from a consumer panel, completed surveys assessing image associations, emotional reactions, and cognitive beliefs about energy sources and support for increased reliance on energy sources and local siting of energy facilities. The content of images produced by participants when evaluating energy sources revealed several interesting findings. Additionally, analysis of the image evaluations, emotions, and beliefs about each energy source showed that coal and nuclear energy were viewed most negatively, with natural gas in the middle, and wind viewed most positively. Importantly, these affective, emotional, and cognitive perceptions explained significant amounts of variance in support for each of the energy sources. Implications for future researchers and policy makers are discussed.

Lessons from Michigan's Perfect Storm: Term‐Limited Legislature Restores Mining's Exemption from Local Zoning

From hydrofracking regulation to pipeline and renewable energy facility siting, resource‐related land use controls—and protections—are increasingly promulgated as inflexible statewide policies by state legislatures, sometimes in response to local exclusionary zoning practices. As recent events in Michigan illustrate, even a poster child for good local planning—recently vindicated in the stateʼns highest court for its careful balancing of resource needs against local industrial impacts—remains vulnerable to industry influence within a state legislature whose long‐term vision and institutional memory have been shrunken by term limits.—Ed.

Siting of Locally-Unwanted Energy Facilities: What Can Be Learnt from the Location of Italian Power Plants

The reaction of communities to the development of energy facilities is based on the environmental impact of the investment, but it also reflects the ex-ante propensity of residents to engage in collective actions. In this work we have examined the requests of authorization of Italian power producers for green-field thermal plants with the purpose of testing the efficiency of market-based siting policies. The classical comparative advantages of locations, e.g. infrastructure availability , have been confirmed to play a role. Besides, the authorization demands have been found to target, all other things being equal, the communities that suffer less environmental damage. However our findings have also revealed that power producers are likely to avoid environmentally suitable sites if they host a highly activist community. The paper also discusses some modifications concerning siting policies that could improve the alignment between community responses and the environmental costs of new energy facilities.

Renewable energy policy and public perceptions of renewable energy: A cultural theory approach

Public opposition to the siting of renewable energy (RE) facilities and public reluctance to invest in RE remain key obstacles to the expansion of the renewables sector in the UK and a number of other European countries. Although there is a growing body of qualitative research on factors that inform public attitudes towards RE, the majority of studies have tended to be quantitative and to view ‘the public’ and ‘public opinion’ as homogeneous wholes. This study uses a cultural theory framework and focus groups conducted in the South West UK to develop deeper understandings of how individuals’ worldviews can inform opinions and behaviour in relation to RE. These findings are used to explore ways in which government policies on RE might be tailored to engender greater public support and participation. Issues discussed include the provision of economic incentives, information on climate change and RE, linking renewables to overall energy behaviour, and landscape aesthetics.

Siting Renewable Energy: Land Use and Regulatory Context

This article takes up the increasingly important land use question of siting for renewable energy. As concern over climate change grows, new policies are being crafted at all levels of government to support renewable energy as a way of reducing greenhouse gas emissions. These policies are driving the need to site and construct new power plants that will utilize renewable resources. Historically, power plant siting has been the province of state and local governments, so the regulatory context into which renewables are being integrated varies, sometimes significantly, jurisdiction by jurisdiction. To examine this regulatory context, this article focuses on Florida – the third largest consumer of electricity in the U.S. with less than two percent generated from renewable resources. The article first provides an overview of Florida’s power supply sector and sets out the existing regulatory context for terrestrial siting of energy facilities. It then situates Florida’s most promising renewable resources within that context, identifies regulatory barriers that implicate siting, and considers the siting issues unique to each resource. As the article explains, we now have a window of opportunity in which state and local governments can plan for and guide renewable energy siting – an approach that contrasts with utility-driven planning and siting that has long been standard practice.

Steel forests or smoke stacks: the politics of visualisation in the Cape Wind controversy

While wind power is now considered both technologically mature and economically feasible, it faces bitter opposition from local communities on the grounds of visual pollution. The role that visual impact analyses play in policy debates about the siting of wind energy facilities is critically examined. The production of viewshed simulations and their reception by members of diverse publics are examined in the context of the Cape Wind project in the United States. The official public comments record for this project is used to explore how viewshed controversies challenge administrative politics. Some ways in which visual impact assessments can better register cultural rationality and enroll civic epistemologies are suggested.

Application of Technology Development Index and Principal Component Analysis and Cluster Methods to Ocean Renewable Energy Facility Siting

AbstractTo assist in siting of offshore renewable energy facilities (wind, wave, and in-stream tidal, and ocean current), a marine spatial planning-based approach is proposed. The first level (Tier #1) screening determines the potential energy resource to be exploited and then identifies areas that are prohibited from siting because there is a direct, irreconcilable conflict, as determined by a stakeholder process and vetted by regulators. Areas that remain after these exclusions are implemented are candidates for facility siting. The next step involves considering technical (engineering and economic) attributes of the proposed energy development that further restricts the area under consideration. Finally, Tier #2 screening (not addressed here) evaluates other use conflicts such as recreational and commercial fishing areas, marine mammal feeding and breeding grounds and transit paths, bird migratory paths, feeding, and nesting areas, and similar issues that must be considered in facility siting.To facilitate the application of technology constraints on siting, two methods are proposed, a Technology Development Index (TDI) and a Principal Components - Cluster Analysis (PCCA). The TDI method, developed by the authors and presented in this paper, is the ratio of the Technical Challenge Index (TCI) to the Power Production Potential (PPP) of the energy extraction device. TCI is a measure of how difficult it is to site the device at a given location plus a measure of the distance to the closest electrical grid connection point. The PPP is an estimate of the annual power production of one of the devices. The site with the lowest TDI represents the optimum location. In practice, the study area is gridded and the TDI (TCI and PPP) is calculated for each grid. The method explicitly accounts for the spatial variability of all input data. Simulations can be performed either deterministically or stochastically, using a Monte Carlo method, so that uncertainties in the underlying input data are reflected in the estimated values of the TDI. The later approach allows detailed assessment of the sensitivity of the estimates to the input data and formulations of the TCI and PPP. The results are presented in the form of contours of TDI. The method can be applied to any offshore renewable energy type or extraction system once the technical attributes are specified.The PCCA approach uses several spatially varying variables that describe the key attributes of the siting decision (e.g., water depth, power production potential, distance to shore, and seabed conditions). The principal components are first determined from the gridded data and then clusters are identified. Finally, the clusters are mapped to the study area. The attributes and spatial distribution of clusters provide insight into the optimum locations for development.The two methods were employed in identifying potential areas for siting of a wind farm in coastal waters of Rhode Island, assuming lattice jacket support structures for the wind turbines. Both methods give consistent results and show locations where the ratio of technical challenge to power production is minimized.

Siting Renewable Energy: Land Use and Regulatory Context

This Article takes up the increasingly important land use question of siting for renewable energy. As concern over climate change grows, new policies are being crafted at all levels of government to support renewable energy as a way of reducing greenhouse gas emissions. These policies are driving the need to site and construct new power plants that will utilize renewable resources. Historically, power plant siting has been the province of state and local governments, so the regulatory context into which renewables are being integrated varies, sometimes significantly, jurisdiction by jurisdiction. To examine this regulatory context, this Article focuses on Florida, a state which consumes the third-most electricity in the United States but which generates less than 2 percent of that electricity from renewable resources. The Article first provides an overview of Florida’s power supply sector and sets out the existing regulatory context for terrestrial siting of energy facilities. It then situates Florida’s most promising renewable resources within that context, identifies regulatory barriers that implicate siting, and considers the siting issues unique to each resource. As the article explains, we now have a window of opportunity in which state and local governments can plan for and guide renewable energy siting—an approach that contrasts with utility-driven planning and siting that has long been standard practice.